Honoring Loyalty
by Doppler Effect
Summary: Jamie's older brother has been trying to convince him that Santa won't be coming this year to deliver presents because their parents can't afford to spend that much money, but Jamie isn't listening. The Guardians honor that loyalty. (AU in which Jamie did not meet the Guardians during the movie. Jack joined some other way.)


"Jamie," his older brother impatiently said. "How many times do I have to tell you? Santa's not coming!"

Jamie shrugged, laughing it off easily. "Yeah, sure. You say that every year, and every year, he makes it."

Aaron frowned, folding his arms across his chest. He was the oldest of the three siblings at fourteen, but Jamie was the next at ten. Their little sister was five. "That's because…" He groaned, running a hand over his face. He glanced back at their house. They were outside in the backyard at the moment under their oak tree. Jamie had a book in his lap, but was looking at Aaron while they talked. The elder had his homework to work on. "Okay," Aaron said, lowering his voice. "You can't tell Mom and Dad I told you this, alright?"

Jamie nodded eagerly.

"You know our parents are in a bad financial spot right now."

Again, he nodded, but this time was less excited.

"That's why I keep telling you Santa can't come this year. Our parents don't have enough money to buy presents this year. I kept quiet for all these years because I figured you'd grow out of Santa and the Easter Bunny, but you've held on this long. I'm sorry, Jamie, but it's just not going to happen this year, alright?"

Jamie glared. "Of course he's still coming! He doesn't care about our financial situation!"

Aaron buried his head in his hands with a loud, exasperated groan. "Jamie, our parents don't have any money! They can't buy presents from Santa for you _and_ our sister. You have to tell them to just give presents to her, alright?"

"But-"

"Or she'll only get a small present from Santa! Is that what you want?"

"Aaron, I don't like it when our parents pretend to be Santa," he said carefully.

"They're-" Aaron bit his tongue, looking at his brother's expression.

"So I'll talk to them. I know she doesn't mind right now, but later she'll find out that the handwriting on all the presents isn't the same."

Aaron sighed. He had known for years that their neighbors had been giving their parents gifts for the kids. He suspected they had even wrapped and written the cards, since that was the only way the handwriting would have been that different. "Okay. Thanks, Jamie, for listening."

"Yep!"

Aaron smiled slightly at his younger brother as Jamie went back to reading. He was surprised that Jamie had matured so quickly throughout the years, but had still kept his belief in fairy tales. It was a ridiculous thing to happen, but it had. The belief had always reminded Aaron how old his brother really was whenever time rolled around to the holidays. It made him seem a lot more innocent than he how he usually acted. It was sad to think that this might be the last year Aaron saw that in his brother. He suspected that by the time Christmas rolled around and he received no presents at all from Santa, the belief may already have started to fade.

A few hours later, Jamie got up, smiled at his brother, and walked towards the house. Aaron stayed where he was, figuring his sibling needed to do this by himself. Jamie found his parents in the kitchen, talking about paying the bills and sorting out tax returns. They quickly halted the conversation when he walked in. Before either could speak, he stated the reason for his arrival.

"I think you need to give Sophie my share of Santa's presents this year," he firmly stated.

His parents exchanged looks.

"I don't really want anything this year, so you shouldn't worry about me."

"Jamie, honey," his mother started. He gave her a wide grin, and her argument fell away. "Alright, if that's what you want…"

"Thanks, Mom!"

He padded back out the door to where the setting sun was playing lights across the backyard. His parents watched as he gathered up the few books that had been sitting outside with him, happily talking to his brother about something. They grimaced before looking back to their work.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

On December 24, at eleven at night, Jamie was still up and anxious to see Santa come down the chimney. He had fooled his parents into thinking he was asleep two hours ago, and he was pretty sure they were upstairs waiting for Santa to arrive and leave so they could come down and leave the rest of their own presents. He had a book on his lap and a small flashlight in his hand, being his only method of staying up that long.

He looked up when he heard footsteps. The book went under his blanket and the flashlight was turned off. He leaned his head back against the couch, opening his mouth and pretending to be asleep. The footsteps stopped behind him, right by his head, and a hand rested on his shoulder for a second. "Jamie, it's just me. Mom and Dad are still upstairs."

Jamie closed his mouth and opened his eyes to look up at Aaron. "Oh," he said, rather unimpressed by his brother's entrance. "What is it?"

"We need to talk again, I think." He walked around and sat down beside Jamie on the couch. "Jamie, you _have _to understand. I don't know how to put it more bluntly. Santa doesn't exist. He's not coming tonight, Jamie. Please, go upstairs so our parents don't see you down here. I don't want you to get in trouble on Christmas."

Jamie shook his head. "No. I'm seeing him this year."

Aaron groaned, burying his face in his hands. "Jamie…"

"Please?"

Aaron looked at the Bambi eyes his brother was playing on him. He hesitated, and that was enough for the metaphorical dagger of guilt to wrench into his heart. He sighed. "Fine, fine. Just get to sleep before one in the morning, alright?"

Jamie grinned, nodding. Operation Guilt Trip was a success.

Aaron started to walk away, and then frowned. "You're not planning on going to sleep, are you?"

" 'Course not!"

Aaron sighed. "Alright, I'll stay down here with you to make sure you go to sleep."

"Might want to grab something to work on. We've still got an hour before he comes."

A few minutes later found the two both curled up on the couch, reading the book and working on homework. Jamie was pretty sure his brother's muttering was him cussing out his teacher, but he was too busy reading his book to really care.

Aaron glanced over the sofa back, looking in the direction of the kitchen. It was eleven fifty-eight now. It should almost be time for Jamie to realize Santa wasn't coming. He glanced at his brother, but Jamie looked like he was content to wait the whole night away just to see someone come down the chimney.

Two minutes later, Jamie looked up quickly, glancing over his shoulder at the back door. He could hear the faint sound of whispering, almost like the rustle of leaves when the wind blew through them. He turned excitedly to his brother to get his attention, but Aaron was out like a light, head leaning back on the arm of the sofa. Jamie frowned slightly, confused. He'd been awake just a few seconds ago…

He looked towards the back door again. It had creaked open somehow, showing a slit of moonlight in the backyard. Something small and bumpy was sitting in the crevice between the door and wall. Jamie pushed the blanket off him, set the book and flashlight down, and walked quietly across the room to the door. He crouched down, looking at the pile of brightly colored eggs on the floor. Picking one up, he examined the cheerful colors and elaborate designs decorating the sides of it.

"Woah…" he muttered in amazement to himself. "Cool!" He looked down at the rest of the eggs, and noticed a few more along the outside wall of his house. After a quick glance towards his brother, he pushed the door open gently and stepped out. Cold air rushed up to greet him, nearly causing him to turn back in his pajamas. He steadied himself, taking a deep breath, and then stepped out.

A quick scan of the yard from where he stood revealed a few uneven bumps in the yard. It seemed like Easter had come early this year. He grinned, moving quickly across the yard to one of the fences around the house. He peeked over into the neighbor's yard, wondering if it was similarly decorated. Not an egg was in sight across the fence. He had leaned back on his heels, pondering that, when a rustling sound broke him out of his concentration. Jamie whipped around quickly, arms flailing to look for the source. His arm caught his coat, knocking it off the fence and onto the ground.

He looked down dumbly at it for a few seconds in surprise before bending down to pick it up. There was no way the coat had been left out here, because he'd had to bring it in to get some dirt washed off. In fact, it should still have been sitting in the dryer. But the coat was here, still warm from the dryer, and it was cold outside, so he put it on without further contemplation. His eye caught something glittering on the sleeve, and he raised it up to his face to look at it. A small frost pattern had accumulated on it.

Jamie turned to face the backyard again, looking closely for anyone there with him. He put on a suspicious and contemplating look, hoping to scare anyone back there into giving away their game and coming out. He would be so mad if it turned out this was just Aaron or somebody. Secretly, he was glowing with happiness. Was this really who he thought it was?

Someone out there caught the look on his face, the feigned suspicion, and burst out laughing. A tall shadow he hadn't noticed by the oak tree moved away, and a scuffling sound came from the opposite end of the yard like someone trying to hush someone else. The laughing stopped a few seconds later, dying down quickly as if muffled by cloth or something.

The sudden sounds surprised him, and the false expression fell away to reveal the surprise and excitement. He stumbled back a step, nearly falling, but two hands on his back kept him up. A few trails of golden sand leaked over his shoulder and by his feet, making him pause for a second. Then the trails retreated, and he quickly whipped around to look for the cause. Whatever it was had already gone, leaving just a few trails shooting upwards to show the direction it had disappeared into. Jamie looked up in the sky, squinting for any sign.

His eyes caught sight of something was falling towards him, rocking back and forth in the wind. He reached out both hands, trying to grab a hold of whatever it was. He missed the first time, but caught it the next try. Lowering his hand, he opened his fingers to look at the prize. A beautiful aqua-green colored feather lay in his hands, about seven or so inches long. It was soft and light and smelled faintly of the rainforest.

The feather twirled lightly in his fingers as he rubbed it. It tickled the inside of his hand and he laughed softly as it did so. Something cold touched his nose, and he frowned slightly. They weren't supposed to get any snow until next week, the weather man had said. The meteorologists had been wrong, it seemed, judging from the amount of snow falling out of the sky at the moment. He tilted his head back to catch snowflakes on his tongue, grinning in delight.

"…_too bloody cold…_" someone muttered to the amusement of another. The laugh returned, but was quickly bitten back. Jamie pretended he didn't hear, trying to encourage them to talk more.

"You wanted to come, Cottontail."

"I didn't think you were going to do _this_ to me!" Pause. "Sandy, don't give me that look!"

"Aww, he's _so_ cute! Can we take him back with us?"

"I think that's called child abduction…and it's illegal..."

"Since when have ya _ever_ followed the rules, Frosty?"

"It's been a while. I'm just saying."

"North's been done fer the las' three minutes. Let's go ahead an' go," the Australian voice grumbled.

Jamie felt a pang of disappointment and looked back down at the yard. He caught sight of an egg hidden in the grass and crouched down to look at it closer. A few seconds passed before he heard one of the voices chuckle. "Thought you said you were leaving, Mr. Furry."

"Shut up."

Jamie moved through the yard, finding each and every egg and stopping to marvel at the designs on each. At a certain point, they began to realize he was stalling, but none of them stopped their mutterings to each other or left. Several times, he stopped to look around and try and spot them, but each time, there was nothing to see. He would return disappointed back to his egg hunt after each try.

He wound up under the oak tree at the end of the egg hunt, peering around the roots. Jamie paused when he saw the huge footprints in the dirt, clearly being the ones of a large animal, from the person who he had glanced standing there before. He heard a short hiss, a sound of irritation. At first thought, he assumed it was because of his discovery, but the next words he heard pointed him toward another idea.

"Jack, get _down_ from there!"

"Or what?"

Jamie's head shot up at the voice, which was right above him. He looked up into the branches of the tree, scanning for the source. A teenager, clad in clothes way too light for the cold, was resting with his back against the trunk and his legs dangling down into the air.

"Or the kid'll- oh, _never mind_," the voice turned from irritated to extremely annoyed as the speaker realized it was too late for that warning.

"Woah," Jamie breathed out.

Jack Frost glanced down, smirking. "Hey, kid!"

"Woah."

"I think you said that already."

"Stop making it worse!" the Australian said from somewhere. Jamie turned quickly, trying to look for the speaker, but all he caught was a quick flash of movement by the edge of the fence.

"It can't get _that_ much worse," Jack pointed out, gaze flickering over to his friend before looking back to Jamie. "Sorry about him. No manners."

"Is that… the Easter Bunny?"

"That's Mr. Anti-socialite to you."

"Say that to my face, Frostbite!"

"I would if you'd get out here!" Jack shot back.

"Jack Frost?" Jamie said tentatively.

Jack gave a mock bow. "The one and only."

"Thank God there aren't more," the Easter Bunny muttered from somewhere.

"Shaddup, Kangaroo."

"Who…?" Jamie trailed off, looking at the feather in his hand that he was still holding on to. Jack smiled, as if the two of them were sharing a secret, and flicked his eyes up towards the sky. Jamie followed his gaze, seeing a form illuminated by the moon. "Woah…"

"She's got feathers for a reason," Jack pointed out, laughing at his reaction. "Sorry, I know you were waiting to see Santa, but he _does_ have a schedule to keep."

"It's fine…" Jamie trailed off, spying another form in the sky. The golden sand was hard to miss.

"Frostbite, we _have_ to go," the Easter Bunny hissed, somewhere behind Jamie and to his left.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine… Fun sniper." He looked back down at Jamie. "Sorry, got to fly. Go to sleep on time next year, alright? You're giving Sandy more work by staying up late."

"Oh!" Jamie said, flustered. "Sorry!"

Jack laughed. "It's okay. Just keep it in mind next time, alright?"

"Yeah!"

"_Frostbite,_" Bunny growled.

"I'm _coming_, jeez, learn to have some _patience_, would ya?" Jack twirled his staff lightly, climbing to his feet. A gust of wind blew him off the branch, and Jamie let out a yelp of warning. He jumped back, expecting Jack to fall on him, but the Guardian was flying off towards the west. Jamie watched as the faerie and sand in the sky followed. Even though he couldn't see him, he knew the Easter Bunny wasn't far behind any of them.

A moment of loneliness passed as they faded into the night. He looked down at the beautiful feather in one hand and an elaborate egg in the other. As he walked slowly back inside, he realized he would have a gift from the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, and Santa, but what about Jack Frost and Sandman? He wouldn't have anything to remember them by.

The thought was a greedy one, he realized, and tried to banish it from his mind. It stuck there, but he could at least push it out of sight for the moment to look at the presents Santa ("North"?) had brought. Aaron was still asleep on the sofa, right where he had left him. The older brother was snoring lightly, totally oblivious to what had happened.

The Christmas tree now had twice as many presents as when he had left. Glancing at the nametags, he saw that his parents must have come down while he was gone to put down their own gifts "from Santa". The real Santa – _North – _had left his.

Jamie grinned, bouncing on the heels of his feet. He wasn't going to forget _this_ Christmas in hurry. He turned back to the sofa, about to wake up Aaron in his excitement, when he saw a slip of paper where he had been sitting before.

_You are among the oldest of the believers around the world. Thank you. The rest of the Guardians wanted to stop by to visit in honor of that loyalty you have shown. Open the presents from Sandman and Jack Frost now. It wouldn't do to let your parents know who visited in the night, now would it?_

_North_

Jamie grinned wider, scanning quickly over the nearby presents. A small box with gold wrapping paper sat next to a sky blue cardboard box, clearly the ones the letter was referring to. They were the only ones without labels. He reverently unfolded the tan wrapping paper to get to the box within. Jamie laughed before quickly stifling the sound with both hands when he saw what was inside. He waited to get the giggles under control before he turned his attention to the box again. A UPS box lay inside, enclosing whatever its contents. In retrospect, the Sandman did have to get his box from _somewhere,_ didn't he?

He opened the tabs on the box provided by the United Postal Service, carefully peeking inside. A spark of light shone out, and a handful of golden sand shot out from the box. He turned quickly to follow it, suddenly worried that he had just let loose the precious sand only for it to go back to its source. A pressure on his neck proved that wrong, and Jamie giggled as the sand rubbed against him like a scarf. It definitely made him remember the Sandman. As soon as he thought that, the sand drifted into his field of vision, turning into a small version of the golden man. Jamie held out his hand, and the sand drifted down to rest on his palm. Jamie turned his thoughts to the present from Jack, and the sand turned, in quick succession, into a snowflake and then a staff. Jamie grinned in delight again.

The sand flew off his hand, knowing he was going to open the present. It rested above his head, as if also curious as to what was inside. Without any wrapping paper, he simply had to open it up. His grin turned into a devious smirk as he looked at the note that had been left on top of the gift. "_Will always reform after use here. Use often. Aim well."_

Jamie grinned, looking back at his brother. The sand beside him quivered in excitement, and then fled up his sleeve to stay hidden. Jamie reached into the box, pulling out the object. He hid the two boxes underneath his blanket on the sofa for the time being, before backing up a few steps and turning back to his brother, still holding the object. He took a deep breath.

"_Aaron!_" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

His older brother jerked awake, looking around in wild confusion.

The snowball slammed into his face.


End file.
